Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[meganfernandez]

He is an outstanding listen. Great insight, candor, surprisingly good asker of questions

Served is better than I thought it would be, and he has surprised me with this tennis IQ and knowlege about lower-ranked players. And a true passion for the sport now, not just in his heyday. Love the perspective he brings from his time on tour. But he's A LOT sometimes. Likes to hear himself speak, talks like a runaway train sometimes. I'm getting a little tired of the phrase "bully ball" or "bully the ball around." He loves his little phrases, and I do, too, but sometimes it gets tiresome. Feels like he's trying to hard be clever or cool.

I HATE the name "Racket Report" for this rundown of recent results and other news. It sounds like it's going to be about equipment. Gets me every time. It's not a racket report. It's more of a court report.

[Fastbackss]

But...it's now sponsored by Wilson so the racket name is apropos haha.

He does have some go to expressions. Almost feels like being part of a club if you are lucky enough to hear/use them.

He does have a few phrase "crutches" but I am able to ignore it as it seems so genuine. It's him. (And I didn't mind his outbursts as a player so I may be biased). I am happy he's worked through not saying "uhhh" as much before speaking. The first few episodes were tough in that regard

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

A new grass court calendar for 2025
16/05/24 •

During the past two years the LTA in consultation with the All England Club have been reviewing the entire grass court season with the intention of improving the experience for fans and players.

The purpose of the review has been to raise the profile and visibility of tennis in Britain during the run up to The Championships at Wimbledon.

The plans unveiled today will offer more fans the opportunity to watch professional tennis, particularly women’s tennis, both live and on television, whilst ensuring that there are the same number of playing opportunities for British and overseas players across the four-week period.

The new calendar of professional events for 2025 is being unveiled today and will:

See high profile events at the start of the season to ensure maximum visibility for tennis
Promote women’s tennis to a larger audience and raise its profile
Ensure every tournament venue will host both male and female events
Changes to the 2025 grass court schedule
The 2025 grass court season will launch with a combined challenger level event at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham in the week of 2 June. It will be the first male and female combined event in professional tennis history in Birmingham.

The following week will see the return of a tour level women’s event in London for the first time in over 50 years, as The Queen’s Club plays host to a high-profile WTA 500 event. The traditional combined challenger level event at Ilkley will also take place this week. The exact classification of these challenger events will be confirmed in the coming months.

The week of 16 June will see Queen’s host its hugely popular men’s ATP 500 tournament in the usual slot. Alongside this, the Lexus Nottingham Tennis Centre will host its women’s WTA 250 event and a men’s ATP 125 Challenger event.

The final week of the season before The Championships will see Devonshire Park in Eastbourne host a combined women’s and men’s WTA/ATP 250 in its traditional week, as players head to the coast before making their final preparations for a trip to Wimbledon.

The changes mean the mixed event in Surbiton, south-west London, will come to an end after 2024. The LTA would like to place on record its thanks to the Surbiton Racket and Fitness Club for their longstanding help in hosting this event.

The arrangements for the 2025 British Open Wheelchair event will be confirmed closer to the time.

https://www.lta.org.uk/news/a-new-grass ... -for-2025/

The TL;dr

Birmingham will kick off the UK grass season, but is now a 125/challenger event and will take place during the second week of RG

Queen's Club will host a 500 event, starting the day after RG ends

Nottingham will now be in the middle of the grass season, but remains a 250 event

Eastbourne is downgraded to a 250 event

Surbiton is no more

All events will be both WTA and ATP tournaments

[ti-amie]

Word on the street is that Venus will announce her retirement from tennis on Monday.

[ashkor87]

Kerber provides evidence to support my theory that it takes power to win on slow surfaces, such as clay... She has won every major except the French..she is too underpowered but has the counter punching ability to win on grass and hard courts.

[ponchi101]

Davenport never won it. She had power. Schiavone won it. She didn't. Venus never did, and she had power, and then you have the Myskina's and Majoli's that scored big despite not having much power.
It is a tricky surface. I say it is not the power, it is the footwork. With some exceptions.

[ashkor87]

Yes, movement is as important...

But Myskina and Majoli were a long time ago, when the name of the game was different...maybe we can say..you can't win nowadays without power, having power is not enough to win it ..necessary but not sufficient condition these days

[skatingfan]

I think a player's shot tolerance has a lot to do with it.

[ponchi101]

That's an interesting concept. What do you mean precisely by shot tolerance?

[skatingfan]

That's an interesting concept. What do you mean precisely by shot tolerance?

The ability to repeat the same shot again, and again without missing. There are power players - Venus Williams for example - who can use that power to win points on fast courts, but on a slower court they struggle because they don't have the ability to replicate that same shot again, and again, as is often required, to win the point.

[ashkor87]

Giron beat Rublev yesterday ..because his movement on grass is very good ..Rublev's power didn't help him on grass..another data point

[ponchi101]

On grass, I agree with you 100%. Sure, power will get you far. But on grass, it is not only being fast, you also have to be very light. Roger, Borg, Mac, Steffi, Navs, Pete. One exception would be Serena, but she was able to get away with not being light because she dictated the point from the start.
Not to mention the oldies (Laver, Rosewall, those guys).

[ashkor87]

These debates are very useful to me, at least..helps clarify things in my head..